The city has become sleepy as people try to beat the heat. Unfortunatly the only thing that can do that is a powerfull AC. Which is why the cafes are filled with people looking for air that is below 30C and does not contain a ridiculas amount of humidity. Siestas are in order! This weekend I am going to a double concert with my favorite artist who is still alive. I am psyched! Other than that I have discovered that the bookstores take my VISA. I spent a large sum on books, since they had a pretty good selection of english books.
I have also been to Lotte world, an amusemnt park. It was great, like being a kid again! All in all it has been pretty fab summer holiday so far!

Starbucks, the greatest place on earth!

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I have come to love starbucks even more feverently here. And not only for their doubleshout iced espresso. They are quiet, have great AC and comfy chairs. Even now that we finely have an AC in the apartment I usually spend a couple of hours there. And the AC is bitterly needed, since both humidity and temperature is much higher than I am usued to. The humitity being the worst. During training or by just walking down the street you start sweating and it doesn't evaporate. Now it is raining outside, so hopefully there will be some improvment.
I have discovered that buying english books is not that expensive here, they are about 60 kr or 10 US. I can live with that. I bought three detective novels by Philip Pullman, the author of the Golden Compass. They were fun, easy reading but not as good as his fantasy books.
The beef hysteria seems to calm down, though I am not sure what the outcome is. I do admire the courage of the protesters, espesially when it went from being protest about beef to protests about the president. However, I do wonder why they choose him at all. You vote for a savvy-not-so-nice guy thats what you get.
Ida was here last week, and it went by way to fast. Alot of eating, drinking and shopping. We are so similar when we are playing tourists. We also went to the Han river upstreams, riding a banana boat. It was a great day and the first time I been outside Seoul since Japan... I ate more korean food during that week than ever, the picture above is from a place that specialize in side dishes!

Summer times are great times and now the sitting and sipping cocktails with your friends outdoor season has begun! Also the photo to the right shows a great korean invention. Bat Bing Soo. Shaved ice with fruits and redbeans. Alot of food and snacks are geared towards keeping you cool. A practise I appriciate more and more as the temperature and humidity keeps climbing.


The madcow craze continues but seem to slow down abit. It has been a bit of a witchhunt crazy which is kind of scary. Even at Seoul National University there has been protests. And that is supposed to be one of the countries leading education centers. Nationalism is a scary thing.

Streetart and streetlife

One sad thing about korean society is how they view individuality. It is not considered a good thing and people who do not conform are looked down upon. All theese photos are from artwork and places in Hongdae area. Here the non conformists gather and it is the mainstream people who stick out. This makes this area alive and vibrant. It also gives it a standing as a party place. I hope this is the mentality that will prevail in Korea, because I belive it makes people more happy. In any case, at least it makes for more intressting fashion and art...

Beef and bird flu

The last weeks a lot of protests about the US beef import has been seen on the streets and in the news papers. Companies selling beef products have been quick to assure that they do only use Korean beef, and none of the supposedly mad cow infected US ones... I'm not sure what they feed Korean cows with, but it is probably not healthy. So now I try to choose tofu or fish.
The weirdest part is that the birdflu has arrived to Seoul. But it does not make the headline were patriotic korean lament their goverments weakness in giving in to US demands. The protection of the domestic market for food products is a huge issue. Most Koreans are willing to pay 4 times the world market price for rice to get Korean rice. I wonder what my economic professor says about that...

With the warmer weathar clothes have become smaller, revealing tattoos. In Korea tattoos are still considered A BAD THING. But in my beloved Hongdae area there is quite a few people, mostly guys, with tattoos.
It is considered bad becasue it is associated with the mafia, and that it desecrates the body thatyour parents gave you. Apperantly smoking, drinking like a fish and not exercising is ok, but a tattoo...It is, along with piercing, technicaly illegal. But not many are arrested. Though early this year there was a famous tattoo artist who were arrested on the grounds that since he is piercing the skin, it is a medical procedure, and therefore he is practicing medicine without a license. Mostly it has to do with young men getting big tattoos to escape military service or be put to light duty. Yes that is right, if you got mafia looking tattoos, you can escape the mandatory 2 year service.
This is just one way in which Korea is changing so fast that the goverment gets left in the dust. The attitude of the younger generation and the old one is widening, and there is no real way to bridge it.
Older people can sometimes be very helpfull, and sometimes very rude.
Anyway, I have been spying peoples arms and legs for tattoos, and ther is obiousvly and artist out there who knows what he or she is doing.
Today I had a Pol Sci class were I acctually understud what the teacher was talking about, an ecconomics class were I did not pay attention and a litterature class were I read. After the two first classes my energy level is pretty spent. Next week is an week of assignments and holidays, since monday is Buddhas birth day! Happy birthday!
Once again I appologies for the bad spelling and incorretct grammar, this time helped along by the fact that I am writing without my glasses and have to squint to see the text...

Summer heatwave

The heat is back. And it have made me realize something. In the winter korean girls wear miniskirts and freezes their legs of, as soon as the weather changed though, the miniskirts were replaced by pants. Maybe this is part of the whole stay as pale as you can craze. A few brave girls have started to tan, to try to look western I guess. Or maybe they are trying to look like Japanese that try to look like californian girls ( there is a subculture of these girls in Japan, I think they are called Gyaru or something like that) Anyway, this is part of the intense love and care they spend on their skin. An other thing I have noticed is that they bring their toothbrush with them to school and brush their teeth after lunch. Very dedicated to dental hygine as well... I love talking to people and hear what they think is strange about swedes. If you have any suggestions I'm all ears!